A MOVIE tipped to be a major contender for British box office success is currently being filmed in Liverpool.

Samantha Janus, who once starred in TV police drama Liverpool One, has returned to the city to shoot scenes for new movie Dead Man's Cards.

She appears alongside Liverpool actor Tom Bell who appeared in crime film The Krays, and Paul Barber who starred in previous UK smash hit comedy The Full Monty.

The low budget film looks at the gritty underworld of bouncers in

pubs and clubs. As well as filming scenes around the city centre, a set of the inside of a pub has been constructed in Liverpool Film Studios in Kirkdale.

The violent tale takes an uncompromising view of the comings and goings at a rundown nightclub called 'Billy's Bar'.

The movie is the debut feature of Merseyside-based Stray Dogs Films, and directed by James Marquand, son of the late Richard Marquand who directed Return of the Jedi and Jagged Edge. The production is using a local crew for the six-week shoot.

Janus, who is currently pregnant with her second child, plays the lead character's estranged wife Kris.

Former Liverpool nightclub bouncer James McMartin has written, and stars in, the movie.

Mr McMartin, from Wavertree, said: "I wrote the script eight years ago and it nearly got into production a couple of times.

"James saw me in a play and contacted me saying that he wanted to do a gritty film about Liverpool.

"I told him I had written a script already and it was just shelved. I sent it to him and two days after he read it it was optioned.

"I used to work on the doors so that is where I got the idea for it."

To keep an authentic grittiness to the scenes in the film, world kickboxing champion Mark Russell is also starring.

James Marquand said: "The filming has been going really well.

"We are still on track. Samantha has been great. She plays the part of a wife whose husband is impotent, which was quite funny considering that she is currently pregnant.

"We had to do a bit of camera work to make sure you cannot see the bump."

The movie has already filmed in Sefton Park and Anderson's Bar in the city centre.

The producers are currently looking for people who want to be an extra in the film.